Just Don't Do It: Bar Etiquette 101

Bars are loud, raucous places filled with people having good times. For this reason, it's easy to forget they are also businesses, and in order for businesses to survive they must make money. Businesses must not be shut down by the police for illegal activities. Businesses must remain sanitary and the people who work in businesses must not go insane and throw everyone out, bar the doors, and call it a night. For good.

After the jump, please find a handy list of proper bar etiquette tips to ensure that your favorite local stays open come hell or high water.

Deborah Stoll

1. Don't assume your drinks are comped. This goes for friends, family and press. This goes for you on your birthday, and you who work down the street. If you're a celebrity, that doesn't mean your drinks are comped. If you're a beautiful girl or a hot guy, don't assume your drinks are comped.

Continue Reading

2. Do not grab your cocktail waitress. Anywhere. Not on the arm. Not around the waist. Not even in a strip club.

3. Do not reach over the bar and grab your own olive out of the garnish tray. Don't grab your own cherry. No grabbing.

4. Do not high-five your friends every time a round is brought to your table. This isn't so much a "rule" as something it'd be nice to stop. Like permanently.

If you like this story, consider signing up for our email newsletters.

SHOW ME HOW

Newsletters

SUCCESS!

You have successfully signed up for your selected newsletter(s) - please keep an eye on your mailbox, we're movin' in!

8. Don't rearrange the furniture. You can be pretty certain there are chairs at a table because that's where people sit. If you need extra seating, ask.

9. Do not send your drinks back because they "don't taste the way you had it at ___. Do you send your steak/chicken/pasta/chopped salad back when it doesn't taste just like Cut/Zankou/Mozza/The Ivy's? By all means, if the thing tastes bad, back it should go, but different?

10. Do not snort cocaine at your table. It's not the '80s any more.

Feel free to cut out this list and keep folded in your wallet for a quick and handy reference.